Pocket for ring binders



Sept. 24, 1957 M. D. oLlvA Er Ax.

POCKET FOR RING BINDERS I Filed July 26, 1955 j; @12.1 j ff 'V/f g) Z]Jy 27 'l I '/l) /Z'Q l l ff 'f j L@ f2' f4/fl l 74 ENTORS ORNEY2,807,265 Patented Sept 24, 1957 dice POCKET Fon RING BI'NDERS MichaelD. liva, OradelLaudV James V. Oliva, Palisade, N. J.

Application `luly 26, 1955, Serial No. 524,431 1 Claim. (Cl. 129-1) Thepresent invention relates primarily to pockets for loose leaf ringbinders andthe method of making the same, and more particularly to aclosable pocket of new and novel design that is easily manufactured.

Some loose leaf ring binders such as notebooks and the like have shallowpockets formed on the inside faces of the covers thereof in which loosepapers and the like may be carried. Since there is no positive meansprovided or associated with the pockets to retain papers and articlesplaced therein, they sometimes spill out of the pockets and may becomelost unless the binder or notebook is carried and handled withconsiderable care.

It is therefore one of the objects of the present invention to provide apocket for loose leaf notebooks or socalled ring binders that may bereadily and positively closed to form a tight pocket for articles andpapers placed therein, and which can be readily and easily opened whendesired.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a closable pocketof the above type that is removable from the rings of the binder so thatarticles and papers contained therein may be readily transferred fromone ring binder to another.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a light weight andthin pocket that through the novel manner of manufacturing the same isreinforced at the areas of greatest strain, and which prevents articlesplaced in the pocket before it is associated with the binder rings frominterfering with the rings.

The above and further objects and novel features of the invention willbe more apparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment thereof, wherein reference is made to the accompanyingdrawings, in the latter of which:

Fig. 1 is a face view of a pocket for a ring binder constructed inaccordance with and by the method of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line 2-2 ofFig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, the pocket of the present invention isconstructed primarily of thin ilexible sheets of a thermoplasticmaterial, such as Vinylite, for example, and While the sheets may be ofany color or shade they are preferably somewhat transparent so thatarticles contained therein may be seen through the walls of the pocket.

The pocket comprises primarily two thin sheets of a plasticizedthermoplastic resin, such as Vinylite, the sheets being referred to as abottom sheet and a top sheet and identified by reference numerals 11 and12 respectively in the drawings. Preferably the size of the sheets 11and 12 should be substantially the same as the pages normally containedin the ring binder. However, the sheets may be somewhat smaller orlarger than the normal pages of the ring binder, but for convenienceshould not be larger than the covers of the ring binder or loose leafnotebook. The top sheet 12 has formed adjacent the right hand edgethereof as shown in Fig. l a rectangular opening 13. The

opening 13 terminates` somewhat short of the top and bottom of the sheet12 and directly below the opening 13 is a closing element of the zippertype indicated generally by reference numeral 14. The zipper 14 has aslider 16, adapted to interlock and disengage the teeth 17 secured toopposite edges of the two fabric strips 18 from which the zipper ismade. The fabric strips 18 at the termination of the teeth 17 or staples19 which prevent the slider 16 from moving out of operative relationwith the teeth, and the extreme ends of the strips 18 are joinedtogether by sewing, as at 21. The two fabric strips 18 extend a slightdistance under the sheet 12 at the sides and ends of the opening 13 andare joined thereto by heat sealing as at 22. As will be noted, the ends23 of the heat seals 22 adjacent the ends of the zipper continueinwardly toward each other and thus tend to reinforce the sheet 12 atthe corners of the opening 13 while the joinedV ends of the fabricstrips reinforce the ends of the opening.

The top sheet 12 overlies the lower sheet 11 and a reinforcing strip 24is located between the two sheets at the left hand side or binding edgeof the pocket, The reinforcing strip 24 is preferably of slightlygreater thickness than the thin sheets 11 and 12 so as to reinforce thesame thereat and to add somewhat to the stiffness thereof. The strip 24is heat sealed to the top and bottom sheets 12 and 11, respectively,around the edges of the `strip yas at 26, and the edges of the top andbottom sheets are Kalso heat sealed together.

A series of holes such as 27 to correspond to the location of the ringsin a binder are formed `through the left hand edge of the pocketlwherein the reinforcing strip 24 is located, and the edges of the holesare heat sealed to join the three layers of material together. Thisreinforces the pocket and prevents tearing of the pocket when mounted onthe rings of the binder. As will be noted, the right hand edge of thereinforcing strip 24 is heat sea-led to the sheets 11 and 12 vat 26a andtherefore prevents .articles placed in the pocket from entering thebinding space yor hindering the placing of the pocket on the bin-derrings.

From the above it will be evident that a convenient ring binder pocketof novel and improved design is provided that can readily `be insertedin or removed from a ring binder, `and one that will contain small`articles and/ or papers placed therein without spilling regardless ofhow the ring binder is handled.

In the manufacture of the pocket of the present invention the top sheet12 has the opening 13 formed therein and then the zipper I14 is,attached thereto lby heat sealing. The top sheet 12 is then placed overthe Ibottom sheet 11 with the reinforcing strip 214 along the left handedge of the bottom sheet 'and the two sheets iand the reinforcing stripheat sealed together. The top and bottom sheets may be somewhat`oversize and the edges trimmed concomitantly with the heat sealingthereof.

While the invention has been described in 'butv a single embodiment itwill rbe evident that various modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential `attributes thereof, and it isdesired therefore tha-t only lsuch limitations be placed thereon as areirnposed by the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

In `a pocket for ring binders comprising in combinati-on a pair of equalsize flexible superimposed 'sheets of plasticized thermoplastic resinseparated -by a reinforcing strip of 4similar material Vof greaterthickness valong one edge thereof, said reinforcing strip being heatlsealed around the edges thereof to said sheets and the other edges ofsaid sheets :being heat sealed together, a series of holes `at binderring spacing heat sealed at the edges thereof to said reinforcing stripand said sheets through are joined together by suitable links l[he edgeof said-pocket at 'said reinforcing strip, :a `rectangular shapedopening in the top one of said sheets adjacent the edge opposite saidreinforcing strip, said opening being somewhat less in length than thelength of said adjacent edge, la zipper closure-having'finterengagingtooth elementsfand an operating slide element `rcooperating therewith,said z ipperfelosure havingfclosedsendswand being-somewhat llonger andgwider than kthe -length Iand width of said opening-inlsaidtop sheet,-said zipperelosure being heat sealed atvthesides thereof to theunderside of said top sheet along the length-of-saidopening with theends of said heat :seals `curving inwardly toward each other lbeyondtheends of said opening and with the terminations of said heat seals spacedapart over the closed ends of said zipper closure whereby the closedends of said zipper closure reinforce said opening at 5 the endsthereof.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

